Geographies: Maharashtra

Blog Post ContentThere’s just one week to D-day! We figured that before you’re launched into the Hunger Games of startups, you might as well have a few tips and tricks handy, just in case.

Don’t worry, these are on us!

1. Dress to impress.

Startup Weekend is definitely no fashion contest– kind of tough to rock a pair of skinny jeans when you’re curled up on a beanbag working for hours on end! But you have to make sure that you attract the kind of people you want in your team. Business collaborators, investors, future partners … the possibilities are endless when you’re exposed to the right network!

2. Refuell often.

One of the best ways to boost your productivity is to eat on time. Small meals every two hours not only keep your tummy from grumbling and distracting everyone in the room, but make sure you feel awake and alert, and capable of focusing on the task ahead of you.

3. Don’t panic.

No matter what happens, DO NOT PANIC. Approaching deadlines can make even the best feel ill, so it’s okay if you feel a meltdown approaching. What you need to do at this point is to let some steam out. Scream, shout, cry, kick (a non-living object)– do whatever you want to do, except giving up. Giving up is not accepted.

4. Liquid luck.

Pick your poison carefully: Redbull for the hardcore, coffee for the lightweights, or O2 for the health-conscious (this is what we would personally reccomend). If you want refills, carry your own bottle!

5. Science of power naps.

There’s no room for 9 hours of beauty sleep here, but try to squeeze in power naps to reach optimum efficiency. 5 minutes for a quick system refresh, 20 minutes if you need tape to keep your eyes open, and 1.5 hours for a full cycle of REM (reccomended for late nights).

6. Love thy neighbour.

Your team members are your family for the next 54 hours. You work with them, you chill with them, you eat with them, you sleep (or pull an all-nighter) with them. Take that extra step to get along with each other, it’ll make your experience so much more pleasant.

7. Do your research.

Mentors and brand coaches are kind of like power cards– they offer you so many advantages, but only if you know how to use them right. Look them up and see who is most relevant to your startup category, and target them when game time comes.

8. Perfect your pitch.

Though it is not compulsory to have a pitch idea ready before the weekend, in the case that you do have a particular business idea in mind that you need to work on, make sure that you prep right to make it the best pitch of your life. Check out this video to learn from the masters!

9. Stock up on tools.

If you’re a designer get your laptop/tablet/whatever device has all your software. If you’re a business honcho, get your diary and your favourite pen. Carry whatever helps you do your best work along.

Well, those are all the tips we can give out without revealing our trade secrets. But if you have confidence in yourself and a solid game plan, this is more than enough.

Haven’t booked your slot yet? If not, then guess you might find these useful for the next Startup Weekend, because our seats are filling up really fast. Click here to book now.

A long long ago (around a month ago), the entrepreneurship Gods came to the earth to tell us that we have to organize a startup weekend in Aurangabad. Those who were present went berserk, to say the least! They were happy that change will begin, that the idea-fairies will come and people will fly away with them. It was raining enthusiasm in the lands of Marathwada. Little did the people know that there was a demon waiting their arrival, the demon called Organizing. This demon was known to create havoc when a community decided to do something great. This demon was against change and therefore he attacked a small group of students who were drenched in the rains of enthusiasm. As is the case with rains in Marathwada, they stop! Thus enthusiasm stopped and the heat and humid of dread attacked. The demon had started making an army of Drear, Stigma, Attendance, Money and the Gods of entrepreneurship had no tools left for the small group of students to fight this war except one, the swords of willpower.

The war broke out and the small group of students stationed themselves into bootcamps. These were the safe places where they could shield themselves from the enemy and create an army of their own. They realized that the entrepreneurship Gods needed their help and they were willing to put everything in line for they believed. They believed in the power of entrepreneurship and the swords of willpower. They started distributing these swords. But the demon was cunning! He asked Money to attack the bootcamps. Money had access to everyone! Money became big, the group of students cut him in half. They started reducing the influence of Money and they managed to slowly but steadily recruited an army of 57. They now had two armies. One army, army of The Students, will attack the demon of Organizing and reduce his power. The other army, army of Startups, will use the swords of willpower to try and bring about change. The demon of Organizing keeps increasing his power by influencing people in the community and breaking them. He positions his army in such a way that the paths of The Students is blocked.

The group of students have fought valiantly, the power of the demon of Organizing is low. He keeps coming back but they have managed to keep him at bay. Due to this achievement, the group of students are being hailed with a new name, The Organizers, those who could tame the demon of Organizing. It is now up to the army of Startups to bring about change and make the Gods of entrepreneurship powerful again. The war is still being fought, today the community sent Mentors who would study the strategies of the army and help them with some firepower of execution, design and finance. It seems that the war will end tomorrow. Come around to see who wins!

At the onset of the first day of the second edition of Startup Weekend Aurangabad, Startup Aurangabad family was geared up for the new beginnings!

The first day has brought some splendid experiences in the basket of this Startup Weekend Aurangabad community.

Started with hustle and bustle of ideas, the day witnessed vivacious spirits of the ‘would be’ entrepreneurs. For ‘being’ in a network, one has to map up and ‘build’ the strong network. And that is how the networking has really made these participants look into others mind and this is where you complete your major task! This was followed by fun ice breaker and pitching.

Planning and building the entrepreneurial edifice is cumbersome as well as fun task. It’s like the Pandora’s Box where we are uncertain about the upcoming things. But the vivid difference is that we become way clear about the things which have to be worked as a solution. And by looking at the start of this event, we can clearly decipher the mysteries of this box.

Blend of amateur, evolved, confused, excited minds and collection of ‘Oh shit!’ and ‘Eureka!’ experiences would balance this voyage like no one has ever experienced before!

I studied in VNIT Nagpur and during my time, it was decided that the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) which was supposed to be set up in Aurangabad be shifted to Nagpur. My alma mater hosts the new IIM (that too in my department!). Coming from Aurangabad, it was indeed a major setback for me as I was hoping that we get a premier educational institute in Aurangabad. I was imagining that it would have boosted the industry if such an institute was present in the city. This was a mere beginning it seems. From then till now, lots of news followed regarding companies choosing to invest in cities other than Aurangabad. For instance, Kia Motors chose Andhra Pradesh (1), LG Electronics went to Nagpur (2), Foxconn is being given land in Palghar etc. This string of setbacks was discussed by many and many expressed angst towards the leadership. It was indeed important for the city to get these projects.

I had developed a habit that when something doesn’t feel right, try to find the core of the problem.

So I thought, not having these companies was the problem.

Why was that a problem?
It was important for the city.

Why was it important for the city?
Because Aurangabad is heavily dependent on its industry. The industry gives jobs to the people of Aurangabad. Many people from Marathwada come to Aurangabad for these jobs so that they can earn a living.

It all seems logical till now except, whenever anyone has a problem, they act in some way by which they feel the problem might be solved. What I and many others did as a part of this act was to blame the leadership. This was done in hope that the leadership would recognize their failure and act upon it.

It is very clear that creation of jobs and developing the economy is the major concern. That is the root of the frustration. To blame the leadership for not acting and hoping that things will work out is a very dormant way of solving the problem. It implies more of avoiding the responsibility of creating jobs and blaming the leadership for being inactive when we ourselves are inactive! I asked myself, what have I done to solve this problem? I did not have an answer. If we the people of Aurangabad really care about the development, it is our duty to stand up and start walking. Why can’t we create businesses which then create jobs? Silicon Valley is famous not because the leadership worked hard for its upliftment, they might have. People created business ventures there which now rule the world in way. Come to think of it, we don’t even need Kia, LG or Foxconn. When the world sees that the people of Aurangabad and Marathwada are able enough, they will seek us automatically.

Thus, I have chosen not stay dormant anymore. Educating people on how to start and run a business is a big issue and we have chosen to work on this front. Startup Weekend Aurangabad is one such initiative and the aim is not to have the next multi-billion dollar idea. The aim is to empower people so that they run a business, however big or small and feel that they are helping the community.

Finally, here are our ignited minds who have been working with full charge. This is the time for appreciation of their exemplary efforts.

In three days, everyone has moulded their ideas into perfect working prototypes. These unconsciously conscious minds truly inspired everyone to put their troubled minds together.

Every time when we think of any inception, we love our advantage first; but the social awareness expressed by most of our participants is truly appreciable. They have focused on benefits of small mediators, shops, customers, distributers and the most important – customer satisfaction and comfort.

What our mind is capable of is something we cannot ever predict, this is the thing which must have been insisting these young entrepreneurs for their startup weekend journey. Everyone was involved with such dedication that every time they were pushed by organizers to attend meal times.

Thank you so much for such a big response. We are lucky to have such a big Startup Weekend family.

Great work guys!

The teams who lend their efforts into the 54 hours weekend are as follows:

Print-Online

Wakie

Rasta

Mitow

6 stars

I-Com

UNDIsPUTED

Paper Bricks

Keetab-E

Adjustable Exhausts

Thank you so much Mr. Vivek Naik for guiding, helping and encouraging this event throughout the weekend! Thank you to all the mentors : Ms. Aditi Deshpande, Mr. Manoj Kank, Mr. Prasad Takalkar, Mr. Umesh Dashrathi and Mr. Vinay Deshpande for your precious time. We, the Startup Weekend, Aurangabad community also thank Mr. Muktak Joshi for lending his advice on surviving in the startup world.

The second day of Startup Weekend Aurangabad kicked off full of enthusiastic and aspiring minds. Irrespective of their ages or their background, the young minds floated on dynamic waves to find the coast of their life. Participants, coaches, mentors and sponsors worked to get the process synchronized.

Each team was provided 100 minutes to share their ideas and sort out their doubts from the various mentors present at the venue. A huge thank you to the various coaches, designers, industrialists, consultants and various dignitaries who were present to mentor the budding entrepreneurial minds.

Being able to discuss every aspect of their business with the mentors and scheduled implementation of processes has made the ideas spring to life and merge the various pieces of the puzzle of ideas scattered in their heads. Organizing such a big launchpad for the various aspirants in the field of entrepreneurship gives a sense of real happiness for the organizing team. The dedication of the mentors to the enthusiasm of the participants is really magnanimous, maybe a flashback of them being in the same stage at one time added to their fuel to boost the motivation of the participants attending the Startup Weekend Aurangabad.

Caffeinated with the confidence to march towards a better world, a developing world, the individuals at Startup Weekend Aurangabad are sure to raise the bar up high in a world of “Ideas”.

The Startup Weekend Nagpur judging criteria is broken up into three sections. Teams are judged according to the following 3 criteria (weighed equally):

Business Model

How does the team plan on making this a successful business? Have they thought about (either solved or identified problems) competition, how to scale, acquiring customers, their revenue model etc?

Customer Validation

Are teams building something that people actually want? How well does the team understand their customer and their customer’s needs. Did the team get out and talk to customers? What is the value proposition to customers?

Execution & Design

Have they established a “Minimal Viable Product” for the weekend (software, hardware, etc.)? *Note: an MVP is the minimum set of features to be able to start collecting data. Does it deliver a compelling and captivating user experience? Were they able to demo something functional?